Puppets out in the world

Ok, I admit it. I’m obsessed with knowing what people use puppets for. So I’ve started in on doing some research. I started with posting to our friends on our Facebook page, asking people if they have puppets at home and if so, what they use them for.

I got a number of responses that were all really interesting. A number of our artists contributed, which was great to read. One said she had finger puppets purchased as souvenirs of her travels around central America, and a marionette from her sister as a gift when her sister visited Mexico. Puppets as souvenirs was something that I’d never considered, but so that was interesting to know.

Another of our artists said she has a number of finger puppets that have been gifts from friends and family. She keeps them with her stuffed toys and use them occasionally when she’s baby sitting.

Another of our artists is a puppeteer and a mum, so she has heaps of puppets around the house, some from stores but most made by her. She had a puppet show in the works a few years ago and made a number of types of puppets for that, but the show didn’t happen due to a family illness and so her son plays with the puppets now instead.

The fourth respondent is a teacher and a mum, she says that she has a number of store bought puppets but that her kids don’t really play with them.

That was all really interesting to learn, and thank you to those that participated! I had a look around our adopted puppet collection and this is what I came up with.

HANDPUPPETS:
1 lion – given to me by one of my students, used in the classroom
1 Max (Where The Wild Things Are) – bought and used in the classroom
12 assorted animals – bought for but not used in the classroom

FINGERPUPPETS:
24 assorted knitted animals – bought and used in the classroom

SHADOWPUPPETS:
2 bought as a gift by a friend from Bali

MARIONETTES:
1 dragon bought as a gift by a friend from China, hanging as decoration in the loungeroom

But that wasn’t enough. I know my adopted puppets, I know some of our friends adopted puppets, but I want to know more. I want to know what the world uses their puppets for.

So I started a Flickr group called Puppets We Own to see what other Flickr users have lying around. I went off and did a search on PUPPETS to find people to invite to contribute, and in doing so I found out a bit more about people’s puppet habit. There were a number of fans of things, star wars, transformers, George Lucas, that had made puppets of their obsessions. This wasn’t something that I’d put together as uses for making puppets before this search.